Thoughts on Michael Appleton

Today is 27 days since Steve Cotterill left Portsmouth and headed north to Nottingham Forest and after the many rumours and speculation on The News website and other media outlets the main candidate has emerged. A surprise perhaps, an assistant manager at The Hawthornes, one Michael Appleton who has been at the Midlands club for over 10 years, retiring through injury at the age of only 27 and quickly establishing himself as a grounded coach he quickly worked his way through the backroom staff up to his current position of Assistant Manager.

After doing a quick search on forums and news comment sections the Baggie fans seem in high praise of Appleton and his eagerness to manage, they say "he is not experienced to lead West Brom if Hodgson leaves, but Portsmouth would present a golden opportunity....good luck to him". There are many more posts that talk up his man management and eagerness to get into management, especially after his career was cut so short.
On the flip side the 'experts' at The News comment section are not as keen on Appleton, delusional at times in asking for managers such as Steve Coppell, Dave Jones or Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Let's break the reasons why they have been ruled out by myself and other journalists;

- Steve Coppell- Perhaps the fact he has left several clubs in the past citing 'lack of motivation', not the long-term option that the owners are looking for is it?

- Dave Jones- Already ruled himself out right at the beginning of the managerial search, he would prove to be an expensive appointment as he would refuse to work with a current set-up and wanting his own staff to come in. Plus a few chants of "Davey Jones sex offender" would put him off coming back to Fratton Park, however unfounded those chants are!

- Ole Gunnar Solskjær- Now he has garnered a lot of interest from a few clubs just by winning the Norwegian League title with Molde in his first season in charge, which is good for him, but come on, it's the Norwegian league! Probably the equivalent of League One over here (sorry to anyone from Norway reading this, but the football is quite slow paced and tedious). Rumour has it a famous Premier League manager has contacted Ole to persuade him not to return to England in great haste.

The only other manager I can see that fits the bill is Sean O'Driscoll, but he isn't a 100% fit for me, yes he did well with Doncaster on a very small budget, but he dosen't seem the best manager to take us forward.
I still see Appleton as the best person suited to this job, yes he may not have actual hands on experience of being a manager in the day to day sense, but all managers have to start somewhere! Look how well some young managers are doing i.e. Eddie Howe at Burnley, Villas-Boas at Porto/Chelsea, Josep Guardiola etc. They have had a good break and proved their worth as managers despite doubts at first. Plus with 7 years of experience as a coach at a Championship and Premier League level he will have knowledge of the leagues and what is needed of the players to perform on the pitch, especially when he's seen 2 promotions and 2 relegations since being at the club.
So in all I'm all in favour of Michael Appleton, I hope the club quickly put this enigma of negotiations and appoint him as soon as possible to get onto the training ground to implement his own changes.

Next blog might be about the Team GB squad possibilities...